2 From Area Survive Fishing Boat Explosion

Two Reedville natives were among the three known survivors of the explosion of a fishing boat that killed three people and left eight missing in the Gulf of Mexico off Texas Tuesday night.

The Northumberland, a 168-foot fishing vessel owned by Zapata Haynie Corp. of Houston, exploded when it struck a 16-inch natural gas pipeline near the town of Sabine Pass just before dark, the Coast Guard said. Flames reportedly jumped 300 feet high. Three people are known to be dead and eight are still missing from the 14-member crew.

One of the three known survivors is Darreyl Wayne Gough, 31, the captain of the boat, said Barney White, a vice president of Zapata Haynie. Gough is originally from Reedville, on Virginia's Northern Neck, and moved to Sulphur, La., around five years ago, according to his sister-in-law, Peggy Gough of Burgess.

Another survivor is 53-year-old Francis "Mack" Gough, the boat's pilot and Wayne Gough's second cousin. Also a native of Reedville, he has been a resident of Sulphur for two years, Peggy Gough said.

She said she had reacted to news of the accident first with shock, then with relief.

"I don't think of it as a risky business," she said.

The survivors are at Baptist Hospital of Southeast Texas in Beaumont. The hospital will not identify the victims of the accident by name, but spokeswoman Lori Kerr said the hospital had admitted a 31-year-old man who was suffering from shock and was in good condition and a 53-year-old man who was in critical condition after suffering burns over 68 percent of his body.

A third survivor was Arthur Jackson of Cameron, La., a 28-year-old crew member. The hospital listed the third survivor of the accident in good condition with second-degree burns on his face and arms.

Officials speculated that nets being trawled by the boat snagged the submerged pipeline and ruptured it, triggering the explosion.

At midday Wednesday, the Northumberland was resting on the bottom in 10 feet of water, Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer Rich Muller said. Parts of the boat out of the water were still on fire. The pipeline, which belongs to Natural Gas Pipelines of America, was shut off Tuesday night, he added.

One Coast Guard helicopter and three vessels were still searching a 20-square-mile area. Of the three bodies that have been recovered, only one has been identified because of the nature of the injuries, Muller added.

The boat was part of Zapata Haynie's fleet that fishes for menhaden, a relative of the herring that is used in livestock feed and to make fish oil, according to White. The company has a fleet of about 50 boats with three plants in Louisiana, one in Mississippi and one in Reedville.

The company employs many Virginians and sends people from the gulf to work in Virginia, White said.

"The industry started up on the Northern Neck and that's where there are the most people who know how to do it," he added.

He was at a loss to explain why the accident happened.

"In my 10 years with the company, I've never heard of anything like this before," he said. "For a company of this size, this is an extraordinary accident. We just don't lose 11 people. We fully intend to find out what happened."

Muller said the Coast Guard marine safety office will also investigate, and Mike Benson, spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, said the agency was sending a five-member team. They were expected in nearby Port Arthur late Wednesday.